The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-26
COL. SMITHS FARM.
Something About the Process of Max
ing Cotton Seed OIL.

something About the process OF MAX
ing Cotton Seed Oil.
A reporter of the Athens GA Banner
Waterman has just visited Col. James III.
Smiths farm in Oglethorpe county. The
reporter says:
First, we would remind our readers that
at the close of the war, Col. Smith was
poor man; to-day ne has under his control
something like 1000 human beings, 10000
acres of land, fine Touring mills, and per
haps the only private cotton seed oil mill n
Georgia, from which he turns out thousands
OF gallons of cotton seed oil annually.
He reports his crop not so good as last
year, and says that it was poor one He lost
10000 bushels of corn by the high water.
He hopes to be able to get through without
buying corn, however, by sowing plenty OF
rye, wheat, oats, etc Besides his ,UO
bales of cotton, Col. Smith makes thousands
OF grain, syrup, potatoes, etc. He will kill
some 100 hogs, and has cattle without end.
He went up to Atlanta yesterday to watch
the lease investigation. 1t is well
known at he is one OF the lessees, hav-
ing some 80 convictS. He says that
the stir has created no Generalization In
his camp at the farm, but hears that those
on the NJ. and A. railroad are pretty badly
affected. You can form some conception
of the magnitude of his farming operations
when we say his ginning capacity is some
forty bales per day. Thrown from the
wagon into hopper on same level, the seed
cotton is elevated to third floor by ma
chinery, conducted over the gins, where it
falls into the feeder, passes through the gin
and condenser, is carried by hand into
press, and in few moments rolls out
marked bale of cotton. 1t is Of the seed and
the treatment to which they are subjected
that we would speak chiefly Separated
from the lint. the seed fall on the
floor into an endless screw, which conveys
them some distance, whence they are ele-
waited by cups, thence by another screw
they are conveyed some seventy-five yards
to the oil mill. Once in the mill they are
reginned, some fifty pounds of lint to | 200
pounds of seed being the product. The lint
SO obtained is short, and sold at about half
the price of ordinary lint This is not a
very paying operation, except in so far as
1t Is necessary TO further treatment. Being
free of lint, the seed next pass through the
chopper, which cuts them half in two,
the order of the boiling APP
paratus in Touring mill. By
thorough good shaking, the bulls and
kernel are separated, the bulls falling out
and being carried out as refuse, or used as
fuel. The kernel is next taken and put into
ovens and cooked some minutes, thence into
pan, from which, by necessary manipula-
UiOI, III lS put llbO layers WIFI CjOUIS De
tween, preparatory to pressing 1t is first
partially pressed, so as to be reduced in size
and thickness, thence into the hydraulic press
of $500 pounds pressure to the square inch.
The oil under this pressure exudes the
press rises and the cotton seed cake. as it is
called, is taken out ground, mixed with acid
phosphate and KANT, making as fine a fer
tilizer as the world affords Col Smith
makes thousands of it. The oil passes down
G in q
few days until it settles and sufficient
quantity has been made to warrant draw
ing off. II is then drawn off into barrels
and put aboard the railroad, and the Colonel
takes a long farewell of it, selling to refiners
in New York 1t passes onNinto olive oil,
butter and everything that Yankee
ingenuity can devise that can find market.
Nine thousand pounds of seed represent
about one Thousand pounds of meal, and of
this about two hundred and fifty pounds in
oil, which weigh ~ lbs. per gallon, max
ing about 49, gallons OF oil from the seed
from bale of cotton. The crude oil nets
abouS Doe per gallon the season
through, making about so. 10 per bale as the
oil produce. Can't some meanc be devised
whereby othis amount will be saved to
planter and not buried. The cotton seed
coke free of oil is just as good fertilizer as
the crude seed, considering the cost of
handling better. The simplest plant that
will pay costs about $7,00C and requires
seed from about Z, 800 bales of cotton, repre-
senting about S16, SOS worth of oil
In saying that the oil nets 20c we mean
of course, after it is made, the cost of treat
ment of seed, etc, must of course be de-
Quoted to find the clare profit About eight
men of ordinary intelligence. are employed
i'll the oil MILL from reginning the seed to
putting up the ground coke into bags as
fertilizer and drawing off the oil.